TVape CEO Nima Noori shares details of the company’s product line and technical innovations. Noori explains that the company utilizes consumer feedback when developing products and creates inventive offerings like its disposable cartridge system. TVape doubled its sales in October and Noori believes the company can continue that trend going forward. The company’s top 2 vaporizer brands are among the top 5 vaporizer brands in Canada. TVape has an international footprint and its German subsidiary is capturing the European market. The company’s broad product portfolio allows TVape to enter any market more easily than other cannabis companies. TVape is very profitable right now; consequently, Noori has no plans to take the company public but is interested in strategic private partnerships and is represented by AltaCorp Capital.

Narrator: TVape is a vertically integrated business model that’s been selling vaporizers online and in stores for over six years. They offer high quality vaporizers with company branding. CEO Nima Noori founded the company on a $2,000 credit card close to a decade ago.

TVape sells a wide range of products, including portable and desktop vapes, as well as accessories and parts.

Benjamin A. Smith: So we’re back with the CEO of TVape, Mr. Nima Noori. Nima, welcome to the program.

Nima Noori:   Thank you very much. Thank you for having me. TVape would be the correct pronunciation, but I know it’s a difficult name.

Benjamin A. Smith: It is, it is. Sort of has TV and Vape sort of mixed in one, so I’m not used to that. No, I know you brought some samplers here. What do you have to show us today?

Nima Noori:   Okay, so the one that I have out here, there’s much more in the back, but I have the Arc, which was released about 10 days after legalization day. So we planned that a good three, three and a half years beforehand. And the unit was finished and published and released, basically, on the 1st of November, and it was really, really – it was our best release so far, and we do release a lot of vaporizers throughout the year. And that one sold out on the first day, the GT.

Benjamin A. Smith: Okay. So this vaporizer, you made yourself? You designed and developed it, or worked in tandem with a partner to design and develop your own vape?

Nima Noori:   So basically, TVape is the tip of the iceberg that is visible from the outside. We have basically Thermodyne Systems that is stationed in Germany; that’s Thermodyne Systems GMBH, and we have Thermodyne Systems in Canada as well. So basically our engineering arm, and Zeus is another business unit of our company, and of course it was all developed in-house, and it was done so from the beginning with customer feedback survey data, focus groups, and so on and so forth. So when you look at it, it wasn’t great ideas of one guy or another; it was a work –

Benjamin A. Smith: Collaborat

True Leaf Medicine International Ltd (CNSX:MJ) (OTCMKTS:TRLFF) (FRA:TLA) is a pet wellness company producing hemp-based products. CEO Darcy Bomford explains that True Leaf’s brand, True Hemp, is in approximately 3000 stores globally. True Leaf products have a hemp seed base formulation and the company adds additional active ingredients to create its innovative line. Bomford explains 30 percent of pet owners don’t know about hemp products for animals. As a result, True Leaf is in the process of rebranding its product offerings and its educational messaging. The rebrand will launch in March and in addition to its products designed to meet specific pet needs, True Leaf will be launching CBD pet products in the US this summer.

Narrator: True Leaf is a global cannabis and hemp wellness brand for pets. Founded in 2013, the company has two main operating divisions: True Leaf Medicine Inc. and True Leaf Pet Inc. True Leaf Medicine Inc. was launched in July 2013 to become a licensed producer of Federally-approved medicinal cannabis for the Canadian market. Established in 2015, True Leaf Pet Inc. markets hemp-based products for pets worldwide: True Hemp chews, dental sticks and supplement oils are sold in more than 1800 stores across North America and Europe.

True Leaf trades on the CSE under the symbol MJ.

SugarBud Craft Growers Corp (CVE:SUGR) (OTCMKTS:RLLRF) (FRA:REL) CEO Craig Kolochuk provides an update on the company’s operations. SugarBud completed the construction of its vertical cultivation facility in Stavely, Alberta and Kolochuk hopes the site will be licensed by the end of Q1. SugarBud is now exclusively a cannabis company, after selling its oil and gas holdings earlier this year. Kolochuk is excited about the company’s strategic partnership with Phylos Bioscience Inc, a US-based genetics company. Kolochuk believes genetics is the missing ingredient in cannabis growing and the partnership will create a Genetic Library of SugarBud’s strains. Kolochuk believes SugarBud’s vertical aeroponic growing is both the premium play and will help the company realize considerable cost savings.

Narrator: Sugarbud Craft Growers Corporation is an Alberta-based emerging cannabis company engaged in the development, acquisition, production and distribution of cannabis in Canada. Sugarbud is also a high net-back, cash flow oil and gas company. The oil and gas assets provide additional security to providers of non-dilutive capital.

The company is currently constructing a 29,800 square foot vertical cannabis cultivation facility at Stavely, Alberta. It hopes to receive a cultivation license from Health Canada by the end of Q1, 2019.

Sugarbud Craft Growers Corporation is listed on the TSX Venture under the ticker symbol SUGR.

WeedMD Inc (CVE:WMD) (OTCMKTS:WDDMF) (FRA:4WE) CEO Keith Merker believes his company is the “best kept secret in cannabis.” Merker describes WeedMD’s relationship with BLOCKStrain Technologies (CVE:DNAX) and details how BLOCKStrain validates and protects WeedMD intellectual property. WeedMD is one of only 7 LPs with supply agreements with retail giant Shoppers Drug Mart and Merker indicates the partnership is a significant endorsement of WeedMD’s product. WeedMD covers the excise tax and shipping for its patients and Merker believes this commitment sets the company apart from its competitors. Merker highlights the company’s joint venture with Pita Pit to form Pioneer Cannabis as part of its retail strategy, should opportunities become less restrictive in Ontario.

Narrator: Today, Keith Merker, the CEO of WeedMD is in our spotlight. Merker isn’t just one of Canada’s top cannabis executives; the Mississauga native has also lived and worked all over the world, including China and Australia, where he was a dive instructor on the Great Barrier Reef. He once cycled across Canada, living on only $5 a day; it was an 8,500 kilometre trip, and it took him three months.

Merker also worked picking and selling gourmet wild mushrooms. He also hosted a radio show as ‘Bug Teeth Keith’ and he was part of a rock band in Beijing.

Folks, we cannot make this stuff up.

Biome Grow Inc (CNSX:BIO) (OTCMKTS:BIOIF) (FRA:6OTA) CEO Khurram Malik discusses the company’s recent deal  to acquire up to 20,000 kilograms annually of high-quality CBD concentrate from CBD Acres. Malik highlights this deal provides Biome with the lowest cost CBD concentrate in the world because the product is hemp-based. The cost is also lower because CBD Acres uses proprietary strains with 15 to 20 percent CBD concentration instead of conventional strains with only 2 to 3 percent concentration. Malik believes the 20,000 kilograms of CBD concentrate represents over $250 million of potential revenue for Biome without having to build a large and expensive cultivation facility. Biome approaches international expansion differently than most cannabis companies. Malik explains that Biome’s preference is to enter new markets first and help create regulation to usher new jurisdictions from medical to recreational legalization.

Narrator: Biome Grow Incorporated is a Canadian-based cannabis company with national and international business interests. Biome owns five subsidiaries, including the Back Home Medical Cannabis Corporation in Newfoundland and Labrador, Great Lakes Cannabis in Ontario, Highland Grow Inc. in Nova Scotia, Red Sands Craft Cannabis Company in Prince Edward Island, and Weed Virtual Retail Inc., a company in Ontario which operates a new virtual reality technology platform focused on the medical and recreational cannabis markets.

Biome Grow Incorporated in headquartered in Toronto and trades on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the ticker symbol BIO.

GoldSpot Discoveries Inc is a technology platform using artificial intelligence and machine learning to make mining exploration more efficient. President and CEO Denis Laviolette provides an introduction to the company and explains that GoldSpot is the first and only AI company in the mining space. Lucrative deposits are growing harder to find and mining companies have collected considerable data in the pursuit of discovery. GoldSpot’s value proposition is that it uses AI and machine learning to find patterns in collected data that humans cannot locate. GoldSpot has raised $7.5 million as a private company and is already generating revenue. The company counts industry leaders like McEwen Mining Inc (TSE:MUX) (NYSE:MUX) (FRA:US8A) as clients and has an investment arm, Resource Quantamental.

Narrator: GoldSpot Discoveries, Inc. is the first AI company that focuses on mineral exploration. The private technology company uses machine learning to reduce capital risk, while working to increase efficiencies and success rates in resource exploration and investment.

GoldSpot has developed a monetization strategy into multiple verticals of the mining and investment industry, including service offerings, staking and royalty acquisition, and the development of its own artificial intelligence-driven trading platform.

The company was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

Ed Milewski:  Hey, howya doing?

Denis Laviolette   Good, how are you?

Ed Milewski:  I’m good. So this is kind of a unique, a new approach, and I see you had no trouble raising money.

Denis Laviolette   Well, we had no trouble raising money? You know, it took a while. It’s a new concept, right, for the market.

Ed Milewski:  So it’s GoldSpot, and there was a capital markets company that was, was it a three-way merger?

Denis Laviolette   Yeah, it’s called a three-quartered amalgamation. There was a CPC, or a capital pool company, and we essentially take that over.

Ed Milewski:  Okay.

Denis Laviolette   So yeah, it’s an RTO.

Ed Milewski:  And do you, like a traditional mining company, you have prospective ground, etcetera?

Denis Laviolette   Actua

James E. Wagner Cultivation Corp (CVE:JWCA) (OTCMKTS:JWCAF) CEO Nathan Woodworth has nothing but praise for the company’s GrowthSTORM system. Woodworth explains that the company has reached a licensing agreement with Wellness Farms Inc for the use of JWC’s GrowthSTORM system. Woodworth notes that the GrowthSTORM system improves a variety of plant metrics and JWC intends to license its technology to many players in the cannabis space. The GrowthSTORM system produces high-quality product at a high volume with virtuually zero crop loss. Woodworth sees a need for this system in the Canadian cannabis space to address shortages in the recreational and medical markets.

Narrator:   James E. Wagner Cultivation is a licensed producer of cannabis in Canada, with operations based in Kitchener, Ontario. The company uses an advanced and proprietary aeroponic platform named GrowthSTORM. GrowthSTORM is designed to achieve a balance of air and water at the root zone, and a more controlled delivery of nutrients to improve the plants’ health.

This proprietary system is designed to eliminate all contaminants from the cultivation facility, allowing for a controlled growth environment to provide clean and consistent cannabis every life cycle.

James E. Wagner Cultivation trades on the TSX Venture under the ticker symbol JWCA.

SLANG Worldwide (CNSX:SLNG) is a branded consumer products company operating in the cannabis space. CEO Peter Miller reveals that the company is focused on creating regional brands.  Backed by industry powerhouse Canopy Growth Corp (TSE:WEED) (NYSE:CGC) (FRA:11L1), SLANG went public in January after raising $66 million. SLANG does not cultivate, as that process is capital intensive, nor is it a retailer, as the company does not want to compete with its customer base. Instead, SLANG focuses on the extraction through distribution stages. The company has a portfolio of dominant brands across all categories. SLANG’s branded products are in approximately 2600 stores and available in 14 countries. Operating in 10 states, Miller muses that that company was the original “multi-state operator.”

Narrator: SLANG Worldwide Incorporated is a cannabis-focused consumer packaged goods company focused on acquiring and developing regional brands, as well as creating new brands to meet the needs of cannabis consumers worldwide.

The company is backed by Canopy Growth Corporation and headquartered in Toronto. Investors valued the company at $645 million CAD prior to its IPO on the Canadian Securities Exchange on January 29, 2019.

SLANG trades under the ticker symbol SLNG.

MediPharm Labs Corp (CVE:LABS) (OTCMKTS:MLCPF) CEO Keith Strachan shares details of the company’s blockbuster deal with a private buyer. Strachan explains that the agreement is for 75-80 percent pure crude resin medical concentrates with the option for further sales worth $13 million. The 13-month contract creates stability for MediPharm. The deal builds on MediPharm’s existing supply agreements with big names like Canopy Growth Corp (TSE:WEED) (NYSE:CGC) (FRA:11L1). The company generated $10 million in sales in December and Strachan believes it is well-positioned for acquisition and expansion opportunities. MediPharm has expanded internationally and its facility near Melbourne, Australia is waiting for government licenses.

Narrator: MediPharm Labs was founded in 2015. It produces pharmaceutical-grade cannabis oil using downstream secondary extraction methodology, distillation and cannabinoid isolation and purification. MediPharm Labs provides B2B contract processing of cannabis to Canadian authorized licensed producers and international growers, supplying cannabis oil to qualified companies for sale under their own brand.

In addition, MediPharm Labs will supply raw materials, formulations, processing and packaging for the creation of ready-to-sell advanced derivative products.

Through its subsidiary, MediPharm Labs Australia Party Limited, MediPharm has also completed its application process with the Federal Office of Drug Control to extract and import medical cannabis products in Australia. MediPharm Labs is listed on the TSX Venture and trades under the ticker symbol LABS.

EnWave Corp (CVE:ENW) (OTCMKTS:NWVCF) (FRA:E4U) CEO Brent Charleton is thrilled the company has secured a sublicense with the Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd (TSE:TGOD) (OTCMKTS:TGODF) (FRA:01GA). This deal is EnWave’s second such license in the cannabis space, having previously licensed technology to industry giant Tilray Inc (NASDAQ:TLRY) (FRA:2HQ). EnWave licenses its vacuum microwave drying technology to clients in the food and cannabis industries and in return receives a 1-to-2 percent royalty per gram. EnWave’s radiant energy vacuum offers cannabis companies a 40 minute drying process, a dramatic decrease from tradition methods that required 4-to-6 day drying periods. The radiant energy vacuum does cause a slight reduction in terpenes but EnWave has addressed this problem by creating a terpene capture system, which is still subject to approval. EnWave’s technology is perfect for companies focusing on extraction and Charleton predicts 75-80% percent of its machines sales will be to cannabis and industrial hemp companies in 2019.

James West: I’ve got Brent Charleton joining me again. He’s the CEO of EnWave Corporation trading on the TSX Venture under the symbol ENW. Brent, welcome back.

Brent Charleton: Thanks so much.